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I know I’m a worth a lot

I am a strong, powerful, and smart woman

A ruler that doesn’t need to be treated as if I’m a fragile piece of glass, about to break.

My story proves how cunning and smart I am

My story is not a story about how helpless I was

I was underestimated because people always want to hear about how the poor girl was saved by the dashing man

My story isn’t a ‘poor me’ story

My story is about how confident I am in my worth!

So you’ve all heard the story of sleeping beauty

Poor Aurora is cursed because her parents didn’t invite one person to her christening

One person who just happens to be a very powerful, extremely wicked witch

Who in her anger, curses innocent Aurora to get back at her parents

My name is Princess Aurora

But I prefer to be called Auri

So here’s the truth

Some parts of the story they did get right

My parents wished for me for a long time before they got me

Fairies did give me gifts.

But my christening wasn’t as big as everyone says

The King and Queen only invited select people because though it was a celebration,

My parents were very protective and wouldn’t risk me with a huge crowd

The people celebrated with a festival later

But I wasn’t there

Fast forward, 18 years

My parents want to look for suitors for me because this is our custom

I am able to get them to agree to me deciding my suitor with a test

For the first part of the test, I spread the rumor that I had been cursed by an evil witch who was angry at my parents for not being invited to the christening.

This rumor spread very far all over the kingdom.

But for the test to really work, we had to make sure those who attended my christening wouldn’t say anything about the rumor

This was the easiest part because my parents confirmed the rumor to the kingdom and none of the attendees wanted to go against the King and Queen so the didn’t say anything.

To prove to the people that they cared about the ‘curse, my parents tried to destroy every spindle and spinning wheel in the kingdom.

To continue with the plan, most of the royal staff were let go except a few who were trusted with the secret of the plan.

The King and Queen told them that the reason they were let go was that I’d “pricked” my finger and fallen into a deep sleep. As a result, they were going to shut the castle doors and focus on finding a way to bring me back.

As usual, royal news traveled all over the kingdom.

The staff and my family never left the castle grounds. We grew food on a secret plot of land.

The invasive plant, Kudzu had been previously introduced into the castle gardens. They overtook the grounds.

With no leaders to instruct them, the kingdom came together to create a council to lead themselves.

For the next three months, we tested the kingdom.

One day three months later, I was watching the kingdom from the roof when I saw two figures approaching the castle from two different directions. A female from the west and a male from the east.

When they reached the front of the castle, they were met with the Kudzu infested garden. They both got stuck.

I raced for my sword and fought my way through the plants and helped them reach the castle.

When they saw me, they were both extremely surprised that I was awake.

When we finally got inside the palace, I asked them why they came, the female said:

I came to speak to the King and Queen and try to convince them that they can’t hide because you were asleep. That they could get help outside the palace.

The male said: I came to tell the King and Queen to remember their duty and not abandon their kingdom.

I was really surprised because the plan was to test the kingdom and see who would take the initiative and try to get things back on track.

That person was going to rule with me, not necessarily marry me, but rule with me.

We didn’t expect two people to come forward.

We didn’t plan for that.

But after talking with my family, we decided that I would be Queen and they would be my counselors. They would help me with decision making.

They would be my partners.

And while I’m sure this isn’t how you knew or wanted this to end.

You probably wanted the happily ever after

But happily ever after is over rated

If you are never sad, you’re never going to appreciate it when you’re happy.